Music notation



. May '26, 1925.

. 1,539,308 E. A. FAUNT MUSIC NOTATION 'Sheets-Shea#l 1 fig. 5.

Filed March 4, 1922 F592.

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EFGABCDE fig. fe.

May 26, 1925. 1,539,308

E. A. FAUNT MUSIC NOTATION Filed March 4. 1922 l 2 sheets-snee: 2

Fig. f4.

- 1B Mm' v Patented May,` 26, 1925 a UNITED STATES;

-PA`TENTorifice. fg

iinrrii A. manner vniiooevnap-Barrisricomincia, CANADA.'

Music NorA'rIoN. l

Application nieai'lrar'eii'4"1922, semaine. .$41,097. i'

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, Enrrii harmonic relationship rofthe various pitches in a sin'ifpler-andniore comprehensivey inan-r ner than fhas hitherto been done, y "and tok introduceeaturesfwhioh will facilitate they f sightreading of vocal and intrurnental music byjbotli beginners and advanced musicians. Y

` This object is achieved by the' introduction 'of a series of vocali'zingsyllables, and by "substituting new forms wlierefnecessary.

This done in such a in'annerfa's to effect-the transition troni "the v'eXistin'gjto 'the new nojf v tation ,without much niental re-'adjustinent on 'the part of the performer*or-disruption of the niusic printing trade. f

plication of 4the notationft-o `vthe' ,pi-ano, f land though 'the advantages incheated; apply in Aequal measure to players of any instrument `fork which the existing jnetiatifon is er may 'be-used.

I Tiine, and any other Efeatures ofthe existiing notation liiot'inodiiedto torno a part of iny invention, are retained and iisedasfheretOifore. f

-Fig. y indicating white keys which '-have harmonic v"eines other thannatural. f y

Qshows diamond `shaped notelieads without and with inset, indicating-blackkey 'Sharps and double rs'liarp'sf respectivelyLf- '3 shows how lblack key flats and ldouble Hats 'are indicated "by rectangular noteheads kwithout 'and tively. v e y I v .K 1 Fig. `shows modifications ofthe existing with inset respecstait ftoineet my requirements."

Fig. 5 shows my torn-'rot treble'cl'et'placed o y A. 'FAN'n citii zen of the Dominion of Canada, residing lat Vancouver, inthe rvProvince of "British Co-y AThe 'followingspecification sli'ows theap-` staff Yplaced over the-,diagram 'of a keyboard octavel to show.:y rstly, the indication of sliai'p's, flats, and naturals by kineans ofa distinctive outline 'for each; secondly, the vocalizing syllable for Veach pitch. 'y Fig. 9 shows on a keyboard octave i-ny niethod(upper) of indicating what may be ternied white key Sharps and flats, compared with the existing inethod.

,'Fig. 10 illustrates the adoption ofthe saine principle in `the representation of double sliarps. n ,y

Fig. *'11 shows niy inethod of indicating double flats (upper) Acompared with the existing niethod (lower).

l2 illustrates-how'1ny ynotation (upv,perl-ine) eliminates the necessity :for acci-y deiitals, thas gaining in.'r neatness over the existing inethod..

K Fig. `13 -illu-strates: firstlypthe elimination of calculation before striking doubleV Hats; secondly, the advantage ol' theniodified stafi" 'for naming pitches several leger lines V'urp oi' f down; thirdly, the elimination'ofthenecessity 'for the memorization oli the Sharps or Hats oiithe'key. y y i i n.

Fig, la shows the notation applied to a chord land single note -,passages where Sharps and double sharps areprevalenhto illustrate Vthe simplicity brought about both in appearnotation. n n v v A v The oval outline (2) ,nowl in use y'isietained vto indicate white keys only. "In Fig.

anceaiid--mental reaction, by the use ofmy yl tour insets are introduced f 3'. 4 i l v1V shows/oval noteheads'with rnsets (6), these being white on black, or'blac'k on white, as required. yAll "noteheads contain.- ing iiisets are iianied, troni the pitch above or below iii accordance witht-he interpretation of the inset.` y f i iThe.dianioiidiiiset (3) indicates .that the ,pi-tch shown is to be named the sharp o'f the kpitch one seini'tone below. Thisoccurs only on pitches TCI and `F when the harmonic nainesare B sharp and 'E sharp respectively. n

f (Fig. '9.) The rectangular inset '(4) is used f head on the pitch y'to be played, .the lcalculation 'oli "ai tonefup, 'by the player, is el'iiniunited. This 'is of great advantage to `the sight reader, while the drawback to the harmony student (of having to make a calculation for, the name) is very slight in comparison, since speed is by no means so important to him.

The same principle is followed with double flats, which are indicated by an oblique bar inset (6) r'unning downward from left to right at an angle ot thirty degrees with the horizontal. ,This angle, though not essential, has been chosen as the most practical, since it can readily be obtained from the thirty setesquare. Fig. 11 shows the representation of each double tlat on the stati.

Sharps and double sharps played on black keys are indicated by the diamond outline shown in Fig 2, single Sharps having no inset as shown on the left, and double sharps having the characteristic vertical har inset. The latter form of double sharp could only occur on pitches F and C when indicating E double sharp and B double sharp respectively (23 in Fig. 10).

Black-key iats and double flats are indi- :ated hy the rectangular outline shown in Fig. 3, the oblique bar inset shown on the right distinguishing the double fiat from the single (lett).` This form of double fiat is used on pitches B and E to indicate C double fiat and F double flat respectively, as shown in Fig. l1 (24).

Since only av small percentage of whitekey and double sharps and flats are used in music, the vast majority of music would require only the three outlines, void of insets, as shown in Fig. S. The gain in neatness and clearness resulting from the elimination of accidentals is illust-rated in Fig. 12, which showsy a passage from Anitras Dance written in the new (upper) and existing (lower) notations A further advantage is the elimination of memory work, since the Sharps or flats ot the key are indicated wherever they occur. Comparison in Fig. Y13 oi the new (upper) with the existing notation illustrates this advantage. Thirteen notes are shown fiat by means oi the rectangulail outline in the new notation, whereas in the exist-ing notation the igierformer must depend entirely on memory to play these as flats. The first tive notes of the same passage demonstrates the advantage of indicating the. pitch to be played where double and white-key flats occur. Similarly, Fig. 14 shows the ad 7antage of my notation for the indication of single (2S), white-key (29), and double (30) sharps.

The oval noteheads may vary in size and in the proportion one diameter bears to the other in exactly the same way that noteheads vary in the existing' notation, though a proportion of four units to seven is suggested as the most satisfactory to maintain a uniform appearance with the diamond and rectangular i'orins adopted. The adjacent angles of the diamond form are sixty and` one hundred and twenty degrees respectively, while the adjacent sides of the rectangular form bear the proportion of 'four to seven units. Notehead forms other than those indicated may be used without.. departure from my invention.

In order to further eliminate all unnecessary memorywork, the existing staff has been modified thus:

In every E and F space a dotted line (8) is placed adjacent to the lines F and E respectively. A broken line (9) is similarly used in spaces B and C (1.0), this line being adjacent to the lilies C and B respectively. This modified form of staft` has the following advantages over the existing one:

It eliminates the necessity for clef signatures, since the appearance of the staff is a sufficient and continuous indication as to whether the treble or bass clef is being used. (A change of clef is shown haltway through Fig. 7.) This continuous indication is of great advantage to the sight reader, since he is no longer dependent on asign placed at one point, which is liable to be overlooked.

The distinctive dotted and broken lines readily fix the location of E, F, B, and C in the mind of the learner, from which the other three pitches can readily be identified, even when several leger lines are used.

These lilies indicate where the semitones occur on the staff, corresponding with the pairs of white keys on the keyboard. This alone is of considerable advantage to the beginner.

Although I am of the opinion that the clef lines of the treble and bass clef are snliciently distinctive without any indication at the beginning, it may be advisable to adopt cleft signs. It such are considered necessary I propose the forms (i and F shown in Figs. and G respectively. A. necessary feature ot these is that the cross bars (il) and (H) are placed on the (i and F lines respectively, as a ready indication of the pitches from which these signs take their names.

Since the introduction of distinct forms of noteheads eliminates the necessity for key signatures, the tonic alone (12), (25), (27), (28), is indicated, for ready reference. The note value used to show the tonic serves also to indicate the beat unit, and is followed by a numeral indicating the number of beats in a. measure. This combined time and key signature (l2 and 13) simplifies the work of the young bcginner. A separate and complete time signature is shown in Figure G and in Figure 12, wherein the note-value shown indicates the value of each beat, while the numeral tells the number of beats in a measure.

The series of mnemonic rests shown in Fig. Tgaresiiiipleenough :for the young learner to reproduce. 1Thejineasu'rerest (1.6) consists of a lminiature .measure 'boundedby the second and fourth' lines of the staif,

. long dimension parallel tothe statl lines.

The half noterest (18) is indicated yby rin-'v serting the stein of' the Vhalf jn'ote as fa verti-` The dis- Though the note'r'ests are shown lwith varying .proportions v to demonstrate that the one of *four to seven' is not' indispensable,; this is 'suggested to be uniform with the noteh'eads adopted. Vith all rest symbols other than that for the whole measure the long dimensionruns atv right angles to the staiiilines to prevent confusion with note-` heads indicating flats. I Each possesses some partlcular feature *by which to ldentlfy key occur.L Continual practice with my sewith vthe note,y value it represents. The whole noterest` ('17) is, like thewhole note itself, indicated by anoutline merely.

cal liner passing down theceiitre.` tinctive. feature 'of ythe quarter note', solid black,`is repeated in 4the, 'quarter note rest (19), while for the eighth, sixteenth, thirty` secoiidth, and siXty-ou'rthnote rests Athe` number ofv note vhooks isindicated bythe .insertion of the corresponding numeral,

since hooks are the distinguishingfeatures of these note values. teeiith note hasftwo hooks,"`therefore@the sixteenth-note rest (20)"ha-s the numeral Vv2 insertedas itsdistinguishing feature. Fig. 14 (31)' illustratively shows the application of the eightlrnoterest. A' f Another feature of my invention is the compilation of a'` series of 'vocalizing syllables (Fig. 8) fingwhich(` the`Y initial letters correspond "to thepitch names Where these are consonants. l Theplvo'wel `sound rvaries with the harmonic naine indicated. by the outline, Naturals (ovaloutline) are sung y to thevowelsound EE, Sharps (diamond outline) to' the sound. AIV, vandilats (rec' tangularoutline) to OO. This does not preclude the use` of ,other vowel sounds` if foundr more practical.k These have f been chosenvto avoid confusion with eachother rchromatic scale ,transposed intoits vocalizf through faulty, enunciation, and because yEE suggests itself as most suitable forfthefnat-y urals, since five out of theseven pitch names already possess this'vowel sdund.

Practically all authorities. on voice production advocate the use ofanintroductory consonant for practice work by n beginners, and since 'these syllables are designed with the needs of school music wellfiniviewfM- rand L `are used as introductory consonants for pitchesrE and -A respectively. 1 Thus` the ing syllablesfbecomes: ascendingfthat is, using sliarps), ask inf the upper liney of Fig. 8; cee, caw, dee, daw, inee, fee, faw, gee, gaw, lee, law, bee, Cee; descending (usf For example a sia-,V

` performer, and particularly the sight reader at a great disadvantagethrough' multiplic-y ing flats) as4` inthe lower linefofrFigf 8, reading from. right to left; rkcee, bee boo, lee, loo, 1gee,`ti3oo, fee, mee, moo, dee, doo,-v cee. Ultimately, fork practical pur` poses only` the vowel sounds-.for sliarps and lflats rneed,y be inserted (Fig. 12), ythe omission ofa vowel sound indicating f A cedilla and small ,j are shownplaced under they c and g respectively when these? are followed by a"7 or o to indicate the soft` sound Vof the letters is to be retained.

I am aware that a series yof syllables is. at: present in use for vocalizingpurposes buteX-perience' has provedftliese to be un- S0 satisfactory when applied to stai notation, especially where accidentalsand changes of quite distinct from'the plan of representa-V tion l'disclosed herein,Vr and fail to offer iinmediate advantages to both learner .and adg 'vanced player; j I am aware thata variety ofr noteheads has been suggested, but yin no case have the needs of the harmonystudent been Vsatisfactorily met Without placing the ityl of signs, Whereas. my notation indicates the exact pitcli'by locatingone of three outlines on the statf,insets indicating modificationsffor pitch Hats or Sharps. l,

- Still further I am aware that a system kof notationhas been'suggested' based upon the mechanical peculiarities of the type of instrument, `both asf'to' stall'a vand forni of noteheads, but such a notation differs` fundamakes no provision for the needs ofthe har- 1l mony student. f. i kI claim@ i i1. In vmusical notation, `a blank, having thereon the customary staff, using leger lines where necessary,y note-heads having a deliniteoutline indicating the character ,of the 1120 piano key (the whitekeys, the black sharp4 keys andthe black 'lat keys), saidnoteheads havingan inset indicating the name of the note.

rof the naturalsto indicate lo 11D `mentally:i'rom":both niine and the existing l. r 1 2. In a musical notation, a blank, having 1,20

thereon the customary staff, using leger lines where necessary, adistinctively different line adjacent to the E and F vlinesand in the E and F spaces of the staff, and a ditlerentline adjacent to the B and kvC lines and in the B and C spaces of the stall indicating an interval of one semi-tone between the natural 1n the space in which the distinctive line occurs, and the natural ou the line to which the said distinctive line is adjacent.

3. In a musical notation, a blank, having thereon the customary statt, using legerjlines where necessary, cletl signatures consisting of the letters G and F, wherein the lower horizontal ot the G is on the G line of the stall" and the upper horizontal of the F is on the F line of the stall, said horizontals being duly emphasized. 4

4. In musical notation.y a blank, having thereon the customary stall, using leger lilies where necessary, a key signature consisting of a note-head located on the line or in the space of the tonic, indicating by its form whether the tonic is a sharp, flat or natural.

5. In musical notation, a blank, having thereon the customary staff, using leger lilies where necessary, a key signature consisting of a note-head located on the lineor in the space of the tonic, indicating by its form whether the tonic is a sharp, flat. or natural and indicating by its note value the beat unit.

6. In musical notation, a blank, having thereon the customary staff, using leger lines where necessary, noteheads of distinctive outline that indicate the white keys of the piano, other note heads of distinctive outline that indicate the black piano-keys when termed Sharps, and other note heads of further distinctive outline that indicate the black piano-keys when termed flats.`

7. In musical notation, a blank, having thereon the customary staff, using leger lines where necessary, a time signature consisting of a note-value indicating the beat-unit below a numeral indicating the number of beats in a measure.

S. In musical notation, a blank, having thereon the customary stati', using leger lines where necessary, s vllabic names adjacent to the notes, wherein the initial letters of the syllables correspond to the letter-names of the pitches where the same are consonants.

9. In musical notation, a blank, having thereon the customary stati, using leger lines where necessary, syllabic names adjacent to the notes, wherein the vowel sound varies to indicate the modifications for pitch of the naturals.

10. In musical notation, a blank, having thereon the usual statt, using leger lines where necessary, of a mnemonic representation of a measure placed on the stati', indicating a rest for one measure.

11. In musical notation, a blank, having thereon the customary statt', using leger lines where necessary, note rests in which a distinguishing feature of mnemonic or numeric type, within a distinctive outline, represents the note-value replaced.

12. In musical notation, wherein is pro` vided a blank, having thereon the customary staff, using leger lines where necessary, combined with a distinctively different line ad# jacent to the E and F lines in the E and F spaces of the existing staff, and a further distinctive line adjacent to the B and C lines in the B and C Spaces of existing stati", G and F clef signatures consistsing of the letters G and F, the lower horizontal of the G being on the G line and the upper horizontal of the F being on the F line, a key signature consisting of a note-head, located on` the line or in the space of the tonic, indicating by its form whether the tonic is a sharp, fiat or natural and indicating by its note value the beat unit, and note-heads of three distinctive outlines, one of which indicates the white piano-keys, another the black piano-keys when termed Sharps, and a third the black piano-keys when termed flats. y

13. In musical notation, wherein is provided a blank, having thereon the customary staff, using leger lines where necessary, coinbined with a distinctively dil'erent line adjacent to the E and F lines in the E and F spaces of the existing staff, and a further distinctive line ad'acent to the B and C lines in the B and spaces of existing stati', G and F clef signatures consisting of the letters G and F, the lower horizontal of the G being on the G line and the upper horizontal of the F being on the F line, a key signature consisting of a note-head, located on the line or in the space of the tonic, indicating by its form whether the tonic is a sharp, fiat or natural and indicating by rits note value the beat unit, and note-heads of three distinctive outlines, one of which indicates the white keys of the piano, another the black piano-keys when termed Sharps, and the third the black piano-keys when termed fiats, said distinctive noteheads having insets indicating the modifications in pitch of an adjacent note in the natural scale. 'i j 14. In musical notation, wherein is provided a blank, having thereon the customary staff, using leger lines where necessary, combined with a distinctively different line adjacent to the E and F lines in the E and F spaces of the existing staff, and a further distinctive line adjacent to the B and C lines in the B and C spaces of existing staff, G and F clef si natures consisting of the letters G and the lower horizontal of the G being on the G line and the upper horizontal of the F being on the F line, a key signature consisting of a. note-head, located on the line or in the space of the tonic, indicating by its form whether the tonic is a sharp, fiat or natural and indicating by its note value the beat unit, and note-heads of three distinctive outlines, one of which indicates the white piano-keys, another the l Ui) yblack pianokeys when .termed Sharps, and

the third the black piano-keys when termed flats, saidmnote heads having insets indicating the modiiications in pitch of an adjacent note in the natural scale, and syllabic names adj acenty to the notes wherein the initial con-l sonant ofthe syllable is the letter-name of ythe kpitch where the'said letter-name is a `adjacent to the `E and F lines in the E and f F spaces and adjacent to the B and` C lines in the B and C spaces, eletsignatures, consisting of the letters G and F, the lower y horizontalof the@ being onthe G linel of tlie staff4 and the upper horizontal of the kF being on the F line of the staf, three sets of note-headsof distinctiveoutline, one indicating the white piano-keys, another the black piano-keys when termed sharps, and

the third the black piano-keys when termed flats, certain of the said note heads having insets indicating the modifications in pitch 4of an adjacent notein the natural scale.

16.'In musical notation, a blank, having thereon thecustomary sta, using leger lines where necessary, note heads having distinci tive outlines indicating the character of the piano-key to he struck,as: white key, black key termed sharp, black key termed hat, said theoretical name ofthe pitch in accordance with the rules of harmony. y p In testimony whereof affix my signature.

EDITH A, FAUNT. Y

fnote headsfhaving an inset to indicate the 

